Lucas Speaks at CCHAPS Quarterly Meeting

The Colleton County Historical and Preservation Society, CCHAPS, held their quarterly meeting in March, 2017. The Society welcomed speaker David Henry Lucas who spoke to those gathered about the early rice culture in South Carolina. CCHAPS President Jeff Grigg introduced Lucas by telling the group a little about Lucas, who had led a very interesting life.
“David Henry Lucas developed a love for reading and history at a very early age. He was a frequent visitor to the Lee County Library in Bishopville, SC before he was 10 years old. Around the age of 9, he decided to check out Homer’s “The Iliad” at which point the librarian, Mrs. Muldrow, asked if he intended to read this most difficult book for a child. David replied, “Yes” and took the classic book home. With help from his mother, Helen Lucas, also an avid reader, he completed the book and returned it after only one extension.
His grandfather, father and uncle also succeeded in instilling a love for family history into the young boy. The reading of history and classic literature became a lifelong love. Growing up in the Turkey Creek section of Lee County, SC, many youthful hours were spent listening to the “old-timers” spinning tales of yesterday. A cavalcade of characters, both real and fictitious, was paraded past young David as he sat listening to his elders tell stories of every conceivable genre.
David spent the last 50 years of his adulthood living his own adventures as a collegiate athlete, businessman, entrepreneur, singer, songwriter, entertainer, bluegrass musician, a participant in politics, world traveler, movie producer, breeder of Egyptian Arabian Horses, real estate developer, resort owner and operator and last, but certainly not least, husband, father of 3 and grandfather of 4.
David has now combined his love of reading, his love of history and his life experiences into a new career as an author. His memoir, “The Championship”, chronicles his years as a University of South Carolina football player from 1965 through their ACC championship year of 1969. More than just a football story, the novel gives a glimpse of what life was like for a scholarship athlete going to college, joining a fraternity, traveling to southeastern Alaska for summer work as a game warden and growing to maturity during the 60’s era of “sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll.”
His just completed historical romance, “The Rice Kings, Book One, The Beginning”, is the 1st volume in a series of novels that will follow the lives, loves, adventures, failures and successes of the Lucas Family during more than 250 years, beginning in the British Empire and the newly created United States of America. This saga of a British/ American family will have you waiting impatiently for the next episode of their adventures.”
The next event for CCHAPS will be their annual preservation awards. It will take place on May 11, 2017 and all members are invited to attend. For more information on CCHAPS or how to become a member please visit www.cchpas.com or call the business office at 843-549-9633.